Urinary tract infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in healthcare, especially in hospitalized and otherwise debilitated patients. Catheter-associated UTI (CAUTI) is the most common nosocomial infection, accounting for more than 40% of all hospital-acquired infection. The risk of infection is substantially increased in patients having a urinary catheter. In addition, many afflicted patients are unable to verbalize their symptoms and their infections may not be recognized until they are in advanced stages such as life-threatening sepsis.
CAUTI is the second most common cause of nosocomial sepsis after pneumonia. More than 750,000 patients in the United States develop severe sepsis each year, which is characterized by acute organ system dysfunction. The mortality rate from severe sepsis, at 28.6%, leaves 215,000 Americans dead annually at an estimated cost of about $16.7 billion. This is nearly 600 patients per day, which means that as many patients in the United States die from severe sepsis each day as die from acute myocardial infarction.
Obviously, it is desirable to discover catheter-associated UTI's as early as possible. Urine “dipsticks” are available (e.g., Multistix®, Bayer, Leverkusen, Germany; Chemistrip®, Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, Ind.; Multistix® 10 SG, Miles Laboratories, Inc., Elkhart, Ind.; and Combur-Test®, Boehringer Mannheim Corp., Indianapolis, Ind.), but require an index of suspicion, are labor-intensive for nursing staff, and usually require incident-specific physician orders. More commonly, urine specimens are sent to a hospital or central laboratory when certain indicators such as cloudiness, a change in color, and/or blood are observed.
Current procedures can result in a significant lapse of time before the UTI is clinically diagnosed and treatment initiated. Ultimately, the cost of these infections in both dollars and human life is substantial. The present disclosure provides systems and devices that monitor a patient for a UTI as well as methods of using such systems and devices. Using the disclosed systems and devices, particularly on catheterized patients, can significantly reduce or completely eliminate the current delays in diagnosis and treatment of UTIs.